Cycling in Hokkaido Japan

Hi,
Am headed to Hokkaido for two weeks of cycling this July. Does anyone have any hot tips on cycling (or camping) this area? Anything I should make sure to include in my itinerary? Anything I should avoid? Thanks!
-B

I haven't been to Hokkaido, but I hear its great for cycling (but probably pretty crowded in July).

I found the best resource for cycling in Japan to be the Kancycling website. It has a lot of information on Hokkaido, if its as accurate as the information on the Kyoto area, it should be pretty reliable.

Hokkaido : 2003 august : the only option is to circle around the island. Bush camping is quite uneasy on the Hakodate-Sapporo-Wakkanai stretch. Otherwise very ok. I was controlled by police one night due to my russian like face. Keep in mind it's the escape spot for young japanese for summer with Okinawa : loads of motorbike, bikes and even walker. Challenge is to get the 4 flags corresponding to the island corner. Bike shops available in big town. Screwed my michelin, hitchedhiked to Kushiro, came back and figured out i got the wrong size. Bus station staff screamed "ticketo ticketo !" finally caught the word and the receipt, had some food and then saw a minibus stop at the station. A guy with suit and tie came to me, bowed, changed my tire, inflated it, bowed again and gave me a 6 pack of Asahi with deep apologies. The best part landscapewise is the North East corner of the island, worst is the pass west of kushiro (heavy traffic)on the way back to ferry station. "Onsen" - public baths are the best places to see yakusa style tattoo (early in the morning). Ate instant noodles with beef for 2 weeks. "gaijin" on bike are one step below UFO, just enjoy it.
In tokyo, camping in Inakoshiroi Kohan (public park) super safe. last kilometers before Narita airport coming from tokyo are paved with worldflag ceramics, sweet. Except Tokyo, i never locked my bike as locals don't.
if you're a boy, the "Sumisamen deimo tobacco sumiasu ?" line works well with ultrafashioned shibuya girls.

Enjoy.

My wife and I rode around Hokkaido in April. It was snowy, but really quite.

I suggest you splash out and buy this map book - get number 1:

http://www.e-wadachi.com/howto/map_e.html#TOURING%20MAPPLE<BR><BR>This shows the small country routes, which are great for cycling. It's in Japanese but is not too difficult to understand. You can get a free (basic) map at the tourist office at the airport.

We headed north from the airport - missing out Saporro - up road 452. There's nothing along this for about 70km. Great!

On the way back from Daisatsuzan Park we rode along road 237, detouring along some quiter country roads where poss.

We stayed in a nice - and very cheap - hotel near the airport. Less than the local YHs! Do you want the web address?

Any questions, just ask.

Here are 2 useful links...

http://hokkaidoguide.com/<BR><BR>http://www.jyh.or.jp/english/index.html

I mean quietText - not quite. Sorry.

japan, so hokkaido as well are easy peasy when it comes to camping, which you can do pretty much anywhere (yes, even in the city parks). never found out if it was actually legal or not, but the people are super nice and polite and will never even consider bothering you, so no worries on that. hokkaido might be even easier, as there is also a lot of rider houses around, which are cheap hostellike kinds of accomodation, used by the many japanese motorcyclists buzzing around the island in summer. prices go from free to about 10 euro's a night.

though hokkaido is great for scenery and nature, i found it not all too special; lots of plain grassy meadows that made me think of home. true, a very rare landscape for japan, so japanese rave about it, but i'd say it's just a little over-rated. the mainislands have more of an ancient feel to them which i prefered; shikoku and kyushu would be pretty awesome as would be the japan alps, but ofcourse you weren't really asking for that.

if have any more specific questions feel free to get in touch; spend about five months riding around there..

I think http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/</a> has some travelogues on Hokkaido.

Hey Eelco! I'm the fat lady you stayed with in Xi'an. Yes, I saw what you wrote in Dutch on your blog! It's ok, it's true. Is it time to update your profile here? Are you still on the beach on Bali or have you returned to the Netherlands?

hi nancy! no worries, the stuff i wrote in dutch is a little more nuanced than it's litteral translation in english! i got to bali some weeks ago, and returned to europe already for riding the epilogue to my trip, but still two weeks left on the road, so it isn't time to change my profile just yet..

Hi Eelco! No offense taken!

Sorry for the threadjack. FYI Eelco celebrated his one year anniversary on the road while he was staying with me in Xi'an, China.